POTPOURRI of THOUGHTS

I was reading “The Week” magazine this week, even though a week overdue the articles were still relevant. And of course, folks are still spewing shit on FB. I fell of the wagon and started to respond to several posts people made, then quickly caught myself and started writing for the blog. Oh, my. So much to right about. So many things going on. So many incompetent decisions being made. I figured I would do a potpourri of thoughts this time around. Sometimes I feel like Lady Wistledown from Bridgerton on PBS.

First let me start with …….. yup you guessed it, the great State of Louisiana. Thank God they have good food down there. If they didn’t, I’m not sure why anyone would visit or live there. In their infinite wisdom, the State legislature is now requiring that the 10 commandments be posted in every school or university funded with State money. I guess we just throw out the constitutional part of our democracy that calls for a separation of church & state. I don’t know about you, but I believe there are over 6,000 religions in the world today. Some say 4,000, others say 10,000. Just for that I’m going to give you the 10 commandments, with my version of what they really mean, and how they should be posted in schools. Not that I think they should be, in the first place.

1. Thou shall not have any other God before me. Unfortunately, no one knows who God is or what he/she looks like. And with the number of religions in the world today, whose God are you talking about. Oooh fuck right the catholic God. Well not everyone is catholic, and forcing them to be would amount to a religious state like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran ….. etc. See what I’m getting at.

2. Thou shall not make or worship any idols. Now I can get behind this one. No one in my opinion is above anyone else. But this won’t go over well with students. I want to see you tell all the kids in school to not worship Taylor Swift, Michael Jordan, Beyonce’, LeBron James, Caitlyn Clark, Tom Brady or any other person in any other category. They idolize these people and look up to them. Oh and you MAGA folks, stop worshiping Donald Trump. According to this commandment you are a failure. He is not the second coming of Christ.

3. Do not take the name of the Lord God in vane. My mother failed at this. How many times I heard her say for Christ’s sake Nicholas. This shouldn’t even be a commandment. It is just not fun if you can’t say God dam it or Jesus Christ you idiot.

4. Remember the sabbath and keep holy. Yes another one I can get behind. I think everyone who can, should take the time to rest, remember, pray, read, listen to music or anything else you enjoy. If you can’t do it on Sunday, then make another day your sabbath.

5. Honor your mother & father. Nothing to say about this, unless your parents are real shit heads.

6. Do not murder. A common rule of law. Nothing to do with religion. Unless you are being beaten to within the last breadth of your life, your family is being harmed, or someone is shooting at you or the crowd you are in, then I would agree. Besides that, DO NOT KILL ANYONE!

7. Do not commit adultery. I agree, but we are all human and make poor decisions sometimes. This is a life decision between adults and should remain that way. It should never be the law. Now if your spouse is a real shit head, treats you with disrespect, does not support you, beats you or dehumanizes you, then you should leave. Besides that, don’t do it.

8. Do not steal. Look another common rule of law. Nothing to do with religion. Just don’t do it. If you do steal, then I think you have opened yourself up to being murdered (sorry #6), or getting your ass kicked. If it is not yours, it is not yours.

9. Do not bear false witness. I hate to say it, but Donald Trump and many other politicians have failed at this one. So please stop saying how religious you all are. You suck at it.

10. Thou shall not covet (house, spouse, boat). Look, sometimes others have more than you do. Good for them. As long as they don’t think they are better than others, God bless them. Now, if they think they are better than another because of their possessions, then they suck. Material things don’t make an individual. What is inside their heart, their soul and their mind does.

While I am on religion, I might as well talk about the Pope and his recent comments about gay clergy. I read recently in the week magazine that the Pope says “gay people are good guys”, but not good enough. He feels that homosexual men cannot remain chaste, and cannot be ordained. But instead, the church ordains men who do remain chaste, but sexually pray on young boys. That is good for the church. WTF. Ok so talking about the Pope does not break any commandments, not one. I remember when I was still in the military, I had a discussion with my first sergeant at the time, Lytel Johnson. Great guy, great heart, always looking out for the troops. It was about the time when Pope Paul (I think) was chosen. Soon after the Pope was chosen, I remember Lytel saying “man he is so blessed.” My response was “he is no more blessed than you or I.” I reminded him that God didn’t hand pick the Pope. He is an elected official. He is no more blessed than you or I.

This one is good. In my home state of Delaware, as reported on Delaware Public Media, the Milford school board just tried to pass a policy change that would require staff to keep the educational environment free of “controversial/sensitive material,” described as any material that “arouses strong reactions representing differing points of view.” The policy continues to say “there are many subjects, which by the nature of contemporary society are intrinsically controversial/sensitive.” No shit. Then the policy also supposedly directs staff to present and permit multiple points of view and opinions of others. Isn’t that what you just told them not to do. Are you kidding me. Isn’t the purpose of school to arouse reaction, questions, converse about topics, hear each other out, and learn about each other/things? Isn’t everything about school controversial to students. You know what kids, just stay home. School is a waste of time. God forbid, WTF. These are people leading our school districts. Shit I just broke the 3^rd commandment. Told you it wasn’t a good one.

Harrison Butker – You are an idiot. As Tony mentioned his blog post, salary $3.6 million base & $3.8 million yearly cash. His wife is very proud of him and supports his commencement speech. So would I if I was gay and he was my husband. Say whatever you want honey. I’ll be right here by the pool when you get home. My wife Jen says it all time, “it’s not what you say, it is how you say it.” Yes, sometimes it is directed at me. I believe he has a right to say what he wants in his commencement speech, but it is also everyone else’s right to call him out on it. He could state he supports a woman’s choice to stay home and take care of the kids & family. Domestic Engineer as my mother called herself. He should have approached it a different way, by not chastising those who choose to work, or need to work. Women can do both. Neither should be made to feel less successful or less valued about that decision. His comments also make it sound like a man carries no responsibility in raising a family. Not something you want to present to young men graduating college. Since he was making a speech to a student body consisting of males & females, he should have talked about the combined responsibility of each at raising a family & providing for the same.

I recently posted a piece about generations. As I mentioned in the piece, each generation has its trials and tribulations. And on cue several FB friends and some family, were posting about this generation and wanting to have help paying for college. My favorite is this “the generation of $1,000 cell phones, $9 cups of coffee and $500 concert tickets, wants help paying off college loans.” Making that kind of statement is making bold and frankly ignorant assumptions. Keep in mind the corporations set the price of the phone, the cost of the cup of coffee, and the ticket prices. It doesn’t mean that “this generation” accepts it, or can afford it, or buys it. By the way, “this generation” is renting 3 BR houses for $3,800/month or 3 BR apartments for $3,000/month. Higher food cost and higher overall expenses, while corporations make record profits. Read the book “Humankind” the downfall of our Country started with Capitalism, because we didn’t know how to control it, and allowed it to run everything. How about we all give each generation a break, and help each other succeed.

Justice Alito, any Supreme Court Judge or politician that flies a flag outside their house other than a US Flag, should relinquish their position. Yes, you can still fly your little garden flags welcoming spring, college flag, Halloween or any holiday flag, but you cannot fly a flag in support of any organization representing the overthrow of the government. Your job is to uphold the rule of law & the Constitution of the United States regardless of free speech. Your oath of office requires it! It is not right. I don’t care if your spouse put it up or not. If your spouse puts it up, then take it down. There is one and only one flag that represents this Country, and your position in it.

And finally, to add just a little more smell to this fragrant potpourri there is this one. Gov. Greg Abbott’s support for a murderer. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just pardoned & reinstated the fire arm rights for Daniel Perry. Daniel Perry committed the murder of Garrett Foster in 2020. Perry shot Foster as he approached Perry’s vehicle. Perry was white, Foster was white, pushing his black girlfriend.  Foster was pushing his quadriplegic girlfriend in a wheelchair during a Black Lives Matters rally. He was also open carrying a licensed and registered firearm. Perry rolled down his window and shot Foster 5 times. Foster never raised his weapon and did not threaten Perry. Perry was sentenced to 25 years for murder (so much for commandment 6). I guess if they had the 10 commandments in his childhood or university classroom, he certainly would not have done this. Gov. Abbott, in his infinite wisdom, and dreaming of being the sheriff of the OK Corral, pardons Perry under Texas’s “stand your ground” self-defense law. Perry ran a red light and drove into the BLM crowd while laying on his horn. He had previously ranted on social media about being racist, calling protestors monkeys and saying he wanted to drive to Dallas to shoot people. I shouldn’t judge. Maybe Texas does have real life vigilantes, he is one, and he forgot to stop by the academy to pick up his uniform. Gov. Abbott released a murderer! What a hypocrite. Talk about soft on crime.